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Just finished Dragon Age 2. Honestly? I liked it. A lot. I thought that the story and characters were fascinating, far more so than in the first game. Yeah, it was flawed in a lot of really big ways. Combat in this game was much less interesting, the world was really repetitive (though I actually kind of liked the focus on a single city versus an entire world), and some of the new mechanics were just bizarre (why can't I buy any armour for my other party members?), but on the whole? I really enjoyed it. Maybe even more than DA:O.

These days I think I prefer DA2 to Origins. There are some things in the sequel that mean I can't go back to the first, like how melee weapons now work. Really the worst thing about DA2 is the missed potential: it could have been so much more if only it had been given a longer development time and if Bioware had been willing to take more risks by having choices matter.

I did miss the origin stories, and I think with a bit of work seperate ones for Fighter/Mage/Rogue Hawkes could have been included in the game and referenced throughout without a major increase in writing/acting required.

These days I think I prefer DA2 to Origins. There are some things in the sequel that mean I can't go back to the first, like how melee weapons now work. Really the worst thing about DA2 is the missed potential: it could have been so much more if only it had been given a longer development time and if Bioware had been willing to take more risks by having choices matter.

I did miss the origin stories, and I think with a bit of work seperate ones for Fighter/Mage/Rogue Hawkes could have been included in the game and referenced throughout without a major increase in writing/acting required.

Yeah, there was a lot of untapped potential there, but in terms of overall experience I'd give DA2 the edge over Origins. The writing was probably the best that I've seen in a BioWare game. I can see how people felt that the choices didn't matter as much in DA2, but I actually kind of liked that for thematic reasons. In any case, I'm hugely excited to see where they go with the third title.

Yeah, there was a lot of untapped potential there, but in terms of overall experience I'd give DA2 the edge over Origins. The writing was probably the best that I've seen in a BioWare game. I can see how people felt that the choices didn't matter as much in DA2, but I actually kind of liked that for thematic reasons. In any case, I'm hugely excited to see where they go with the third title.

It's strange; the idea of crushing inevitability regardless of choice is a really good one for a game to have, but I'm not sure DA2 was actively trying to convey that so am cautious in saying it was a theme of the game. More often than not it just tries to please and reward everyone regardless of choice.

For example: first playthrough I actively romanced Merill - being nice to her, letting her fix the mirror etc to max out the friendship meter, and the relationship progressed to the full extent. Next time I was an antagonistic prick to everyone but especially her, hitting full rivalry in no time. Then, after she declares she "never wants to see me again", she appears at the mansion to apologise and I jokingly pick the '♥' option that was offered just because it seemed kind of out-of-place. Some more talking, no more conversation options given, and banging ensues with option to be in romance after. So either DA2, rather progressively, allows for hatefucking or there is something seriously wrong with its systems and hates closing anything off in case the player gets bitchy.
Whereas if you picked the wrong thing to do with Viconia, Jaheira or Aerie then there was no elf loving for you lad.

That's definitely odd (though I'd say that that's kind of an issue with most video game relationship systems, which like to keep every option open for the player constantly without regard for whether or not it makes sense). I think that the inevitability worked really well from a plot standpoint, but maybe less when it came to smaller, individual choices and relationships. Granted, the strength of the characters made up for that for me, but I can see why people get upset.

Lately I've been trying to pretend Borderlands 2 doesn't exist as I've just hit 450 hours. This has led to:

- Thirty Flights of Loving (and Gravity Bone) which I loved,
- Dear Esther which I enjoyed after I realised I had the filtering set to Trilinear (I wondered how a game built on the Source engine could look that bad),
- Hitman: Absolutely which isn't as bad as I had been led to believe; it's certainly no Blood Money but there's plenty to do and I was actually replaying the story missions after I finished them to find alternate approaches. Ok, so I haven't found one of the A-B missions with no assassinations yet, but the controls are good, the production is solid and as I said there's stuff to do to keep you replaying, which is more than can be said for a number of other games.
- I also finished Spec Ops: The Line, man that was dark. I 'enjoyed' it, though.
- The Walking Dead was also great, not as well put together as I had hoped but you can't have everything.
- Closure seems ok but I'm pretty sick of indie 2D sidescrollers with a unique puzzle twist, I don't think I can bring myself to finish it.
- Also: GTA San Andreas. I might see if I can stick with it but the keyboard controls are total arse and using a 360 pad doesn't let you map the triggers or right stick. Why even bother if you can't have accelerate and brake on the triggers and camera on the right stick? It's madness gone crazy.

Y to target the nearest missile/bomb fired at your command/escort ships. Keeping command ships alive pays of in spades and bombers typically have long reload times for the bigger weapons so taking down a wave of missiles and then taking the bomber is very doable.

Once you have access to the Prometheus-R laser cannon, use it exclusively. It utterly ruins fighters and works well against smaller capital ships. Its shield removal could be a little more efficient but it just shreds hulls. The Kayser is more powerful but plays havoc with energy management. The later missions often require efficient management of shields and engines. The Kayser simply doesn't allow this; if you can find a balance then go for it as the Kayser is practically a disintegration machine against both shields and hulls.

Stay the fuck away from capital ships duking it out. You WILL get bombarded with a shit load of flak and anti-fighter lasers. While flak is easier to deal with (just fly away fast) lasers physically assault your ship as well and literally throw you around. Its annoying as hell.

Get used to the arrow keys to manage your shield quadrants. Sometimes, taking a hit is a better idea than evasion; especially during bombing and strafing runs.

S for subsystems on enemy ships. Pointless on fighters but necessary against the big mofo ships. Most missions which require precision removal of subsystems will let you know so don't worry. Engines and weapons are the usual priority. K to target specific weapons on the hull - laser cannons, flak cannons, turrets, missile bays, etc.

Ideal combat zones are either a healthy distance from capital ships - generally, stay out of anti-fighter laser range - or go right to the eye of the storm. The one place flak and lasers can't get you is if you hug the hull. Turrets and missiles still can but they're infinitely easier to deal with. Enemy fighters will prioritise you if you do this btw.

Abuse your wingmen. Their AI when commanded is excellent. They're generally decent at taking care of themselves but are incredibly effective when ordered. Memorise those keyboard shortcuts.

The Shivan fighter designated Dragon is a motherfucker of a fighter. Be careful if they're part of an enemy wave. The little things aren't all that strong but evade like all hell and can out manoeuvre you like nobody's business.

Any tips for those of us who have a joystick? Because I bounced right off FS2, partially due to the feeling that I wasn't able to keep up with its more esoteric control systems.

Any tips for those of us who have a joystick? Because I bounced right off FS2, partially due to the feeling that I wasn't able to keep up with its more esoteric control systems.

A quick correction to my above tips. Its B to target the nearest hostile bomb or bomber (It always looks for bombs first, then bombers). Not Y; that targets the nearest object in your reticle regardless of affiliation (Even random debris can be targetted with Y); my bad there.

Sure. Although Freespace 1+2 is an oddity in that I much prefer mouse + kb as it makes precision aiming with your primary weapon easier. Enemy AI in FS2 in particular is very good at dealing with missiles.

If you prefer the joystick however; obviously all weapons should be fired from there. Countermeasures as well. And if you have enough spare buttons then feel free to add bank left (instant hard rotate left) and bank right (instant hard rotate right) to them as well.

Switch your HUD colour to amber in the game options. Its the most non-intrusive personally and looks great against the background of space. Green is too distracting and blue is way too soft.

Oh yes, if there's a Sun/Star in the far off distance in your current mission, try and avoid flying into it's line of sight if at all possible. Instant blindness!

Alt+H to toggle on/off auto target the nearest hostile target. Be warned though that your radar waits till your current target actually blows up. I prefer pressing H to immediately move to the next target when I see 0% hp on my current target.

Alt+M to toggle match speed with your target on/off. I almost never turn this off. Unless i'm playing chicken with capital ships where you need to manage your speed more. Against fighters, keep this on at all times. When you have access to the Persesus fighter (its the fastest fighter in your fleet) it can keep pace with anything.

Tab for afterburner. Excellent for both offensive and defensive moves. Limited but recharges depending on how much energy you have in your engine banks. Do note that your afterburners take you beyond your maximum speed but for a brief period only so its usually the best option for an instant start/evasive manouevre/closing distance to target.

Backspace to switch off your engines instantly. FS2 does have a physics system so you'll roll to a stop.

Backslash for setting your engines to max speed. Or whatever the key is below the backspace one depending on your region. As above, your ship will gradually move to top speed.

A/Z to increase and decrease speed respectively. With alt+m enabled this gives you the most efficient speed management. Its not a permanent increase/decrease so you need to do some tapping. Example: you have someone in your sights and as you have match speed enabled you're flying at roughly half your maximum speed. But missiles lock on you from behind; hold A to increase speed to full for evasive tactics or hold down Tab to engage afterburners for an instant speed boost.

Period/fullstop to toggle between your primary weapons banks and single/dual fire mode. I prefer to almost always have both weapon banks selected for dual fire. Only exception is if my second primary bank has a disabling weapon (Or the Keyser) which are usually energy suckers.

Forward slash to toggle between secondary weapon banks. On bombers you will typically have two to three types of missiles and bombs. Fighters normally have anti-fighter missiles. Shift+forward slash to enable dual fire mode. So if you have say the Hornet or Tornado missiles - swarm missiles, they fire in packs of four - watch EIGHT of them go off at once with one of my favourite sounds in all of gaming. THWOOSH THWOOSH THWOOSH THWOOSH THWOOSH THWOOSH THWOOSH THWOOSH

X for countermeasures. You know how submarines beep when a torpedo approaches them? Exact same process here. Wait till the beeping terrifies you and spam ideally between 2-5 countermeasures. I prefer switching this to one of the spare joystick buttons.

You do have a support ship that will reload all your missile banks, countermeasures AND repair your subsystems. It will NOT repair your hull.

C to bring up your command screen for wingmen. There's a specific tutorial mission just for this and you can replay them anytime.

I really should just make a proper guide. That should cover most basics for the time being.

Freespace 2 does have EXCELLENT tutorial missions. Follow them closely. And they gradually become more advanced the further you go into the game. I'd say the first quarter of the game is a gradual introduction to all the systems and the relevant tutorial missions so make sure you play them all.

I think this might be more of a problem with Closure, and perhaps the whole raft of indie platformers that have come out recently. I've found that while many of them are very atmospheric, they flub up the gameplay just enough to make them feel repetitive. I played Closure for 10is levels and then bounced off, same for Offspring Fling, same for Snapshot, same for Toby's Vertical Adventure. Then I went back and replayed some of the games that were on the start of the indie wave for me, and got sucked into them all over again.

VVVVV was perhaps the best at getting me back in. Terry Cavanaugh has a direct line to the lizard part of my brain. Braid is still fun if you ignore the text. Cave Story will still drag me in. It's possible that something in the game, rather than the genre, is missing.

I can play Super Metroid any time and still love it. It's the illusion of openness in linearity, or smashing that linearity to a pulp by sequence breaking. And eventually, the enemy respawns don't matter.

I've been sucked into Crusader Kings 2 once again, playing as the fiercely loyal dukes of Moray (Scotland). An oath is an oath, and if I've sworn my allegiance to the King then by God I'm going to stand by him! Well, you know, unless something exceptional happens, but what's the likelihood of that? Like, kinda small, right?

So, I stood by my kings, in sickness and in health, peace and wartime. Mostly wartime, since the Scots seem incapable of not hating each other. In the early 1200s there was a quite massive civil war. Several factions, almost everyone were actively involved, etc. The king was weak and only controlled his one province (Powys in Wales), but I managed to keep the situation under a modicum of control. Enter the duke of Hereford.

The duke's father had had the audacity of taking advantage of a previous civil war and invading Dyfed. Using mercenaries, I turned him back and had him killed for his insolence. Now his son wanted Powys. No biggie, I have enough cash for some mercenaries. It'll be like a nice family tradition for them.

What's that? The king already surrendered to them? But they just got there! Where did the king go? He... WHAT!? He revoked Caithness? Why didn't he take Clydesdale or the frickin' duchy of Lothian? That clubfooted little ingrate! I was his regent and mentor and have protected his domain for his entire life, and this is how he repays me? Oh, hell no! I never liked him anyway. OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

For the first time in history, the Buchanan clan was in revolt. A quick one. The king fielded a fearsome army of some 40 men, that have not been heard of since. The king himself died during the siege (in bed like a bitch), but the die had been cast and I wanted my county back. So I kept at it, and soon I deposed his succesor and the war was over. Apparently, however, once the king had fallen, there was nowhere for the crown to go. Scotland, along with the majority of Ireland and Wales, found itself divided among a collection of independent clans. I broke my country! A country that my entire family had devoted their lives to preserve!

So what now? The crown was vacant, but noone was strong enough to claim it. I was the strongest of the clans, but I had no desire of such things. My family was the right hand and sword of Scotland, not the head and crown. Furthermore, the shame over what I had done left me unsuitable for such an honour. I wanted to start over, make amends to the nation by restoring Scotland to glory under a new king. But there was noone to swear fealty to. I had to look elsewhere, but where would I go? Deposing my liege and king, destroying my nation, would not sit well with the courts of Europe. The Arabs? No, my great grandfather had fought in the Crusade to retake Jerusalem, and would turn in his grave if I sought refuge with the Muslims. There was only one place left to go. Only one place where my history would not burden me. Only one nation that allows for a clean slate. In the chaos that follows the horde from the east, I shall start over and redeem myself and my family name! Their banners shall fly over the old kingdom as the tidal wave washes over Britannia!

Long live the Khagan.

P.S. Funnily, had I not murdered the old duke of Hereford, the peace treaty would have prevented all this from happening.

If I was feeling industrious I'd link the "how do I enjoy Grand Strategy games" thread to this post. OK granted, this sort of story is something that seems to be fairly unique to CKII but it's awesome. I might just have to fire it up again, I just haven't given it the time it deserves yet (only 31 hours according to Steam).

If I was feeling industrious I'd link the "how do I enjoy Grand Strategy games" thread to this post. OK granted, this sort of story is something that seems to be fairly unique to CKII but it's awesome. I might just have to fire it up again, I just haven't given it the time it deserves yet (only 31 hours according to Steam).

Heh. Yeah, it is a role playing gold mine. Do give it another go. It's a handful at first, as you no doubt know, but once you learn it mostly sticks. I hadn't played since June, I think, but I jumped in with no problems, after several new patches and DLC. I've logged 153 hours on Steam and probably another 300 off Steam (Steam doesn't count time if you're not launching it through the client).

I have no idea how to link posts between threads, but you have my blessing if the industrious...ness(?) finds you.

Oh I really enjoyed my time with it, alas I just don't have the time to spend on it! I've had to get brutal with games that end up with me finding myself still awake at silly o' clock in the morning (one day I'll have the time to get a bit further in Spacechem!) and just cut myself off and play something less time intensive and oh so distracting!